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First off, had a great time in St. Pete visiting my old time friend. We baked, and burnt, some cookies, had a beach day plus some fun loading up the paddle-board, visited Tampa and much more. It was the perfect pre-week to my Whole30 challenge which is going wonderfully so far.

I’m only 3 days in so I cannot report a whole (pun intended) lot crazy differences my body is feeling but I do feel great. I’ve done plenty of juice fasts in the past so I don’t think this could be any harder. You really have to put your mind to do and just do it. If you start off with the mentality that you will fail or are not able to do it, you most likely will do exactly those things. It’s the power of the mind. I hope to report some great stuff at the end of this so that one of you reading this may be challenged to try Whole30.

This post is, however, not about Whole30. It’s just a random post of some stuff I think you should check out. Yeah, sometimes blog posts are allowed to be rather long twitter rants where you simply tell the world random uninteresting things like what I am about to tell you.

Uninteresting thing #1 you should check out: Oxford Exchange (Tampa, FL). (Hah! Not that uninteresting is it) I’ve never much cared for Tampa but they do have some great shopping and food. If you’re ever in the area be sure to check out Oxford Exchange. Not so much for their stores but for their restaurants which include food that is locally and organically sourced as well as antibiotic-free and hormone-free meat. You can imagine my happy dance when my friend mentioned going there and I found out their restaurant turned out to my right up my foodie ally! I had the most amazing sweet potato fries, kale chips, and turkey club sandwich but honestly, everything looked so good. They even have afternoon tea on the weekends, how cute is that? Oh and brunch too? Adorable. Yes, please go check this place out pronto if you visit Tampa.

Uninteresting thing #2 you should check out: Best Green Drinks Ever (book written by Katrine Van Wyk). My friend bought me this book for my birthday and I was so excited to have a green drinks book on hand with tons of recipes and information! I actually don’t have a ton of cookbooks or anything of the sort so it was nice to get one that directly speaks to me and my love for all things green juice/smoothie. So anyways, I won’t spoil any of the book for you nor the recipes but let me tell you, I would’ve never thought to juice a jalapeno nor would I have learned one of the key reasons people don’t digest dairy that well. And if any of that remotely interests you, you should get the book.

Uninteresting thing #3 you should check out: Redefining Home (book written by Carrie Anne Hudson). I bought this a while back. I don’t even remember why but I’m so glad I did. It’s written in a journal form which strongly appeals to my likings. It makes me feel like I know the person and like I could just sit and have tea or coffee with her and tell funny stories of our children (for her, actual children, for me, my dog). Carrie writes of her journey to redefine “home” as she tells of her life in China and America. She brings such a unique perspective on some of the cultural differences between America and China. I love reading books like this because it opens my eyes to so many new fresh ways to look at cultures and people. Above all, she has a passion to spread the love of Christ, God’s grace, and His message of salvation to all. My favorite chapter was the last one. It was directed towards Christians who want to live overseas but I think any Christian would benefit from her advice.

Uninteresting thing #4 you should check out. When I was Younger (the album) written by Colony House (probably one of my top 5 favorite bands ever). If you couldn’t tell by the obnoxiously long link there, I don’t want you to miss out on this band. There isn’t much to say about them except that I have had their album on repeat for about a week now. It’s that good. I am in love. I even bought the whole album which says a lot because we have Rdio which means the album is “free” to us but this band deserves support. I will even by a T-shirt. Two things I never do, buy an album and a T-shirt. So go check it out. The only way you won’t like them is if you hate happy, uplifting, creative music and adore lame, crappy, uncreative music.

So there you have it, four not-uninteresting things for you to check out in the coming weeks.

That’s why I am so pissed when so-called “health” stores lie straight to my face and you should be too!

Do a quick search on any of these “health” store pages and you’ll see words like:

natural

organic

no artificial preservatives

non-GMO

no hormones

no antibiotics

and the list goes on.

And all these words and all these missions and slogans are designed so you do a couple of things. 1) You blindly pick up anything in the store and assume it’s good to put in your body. 2) Profit. Because at the end of the day, these companies will do anything to make money off of you. Even lie straight to your face.

How do they lie? Well in a number of ways like allowing carrageenan in food and still calling it healthy or actually allowing GMOs in their store as was the case here and here.

But perhaps the most frustrating lie is that they not only allow canola oil in everything but, at least with EarthFare and WholeFoods, they sell certified organic canola oil!!! Maybe I should be more pissed at the USDA for even allowing the certification in the first place but I’m not…my anger is directed towards the stores! Liars! All of them!

Kristina, how can this be a lie? I’m so glad you asked. Let me start by telling you a story followed by a set of riddles followed by some facts on canola oil.

Story: Trying to get my parents to go “100% natural/organic real food” is probably the hardest thing ever being that they both think I’m slightly over the top and a bit skeptical about the whole thing. But for me, it’s so important that they make the switch because I love them and care deeply for them. Second to my husband, my family is the most important thing to me and I hate to see them eating fake chemical laden CRAP. Anyways, so the conversation goes something as follows:

“At the end of the day….Canola oil has to come from something natural just like all oils.” my parents

“Oh really? Where does Canola oil come from?” me

“Um, a canola plant/seed.” my parents

“You would think…but that’s not the whole story.” me

Riddle: If coconut oil comes from coconut and olive oil comes from olives then canola oil should come from……..? If you guessed canola I would mark your test as incorrect…it comes from a rapeseed.

As if the name wasn’t already a little bit alarming the fact that the FDA banned it for human consumption (paragraph 4 in case you want to actually read the link) should make you wonder why we even decided to try to make something out of it. Put rapeseed right up there with poisonous berries or mushrooms.

Even with all this some scientists decided they wanted to try their hands at being gods and create an oil that was fit for human consumption…and the canola plant was “born” in the 1970s. Some Canadian scientists went into a lab and used “traditional” plant practices to create canola. Pause, what in the world seems traditional about something being created in a lab by man? Nothing is the correct answer. Top that with the fact that 90% of the canola crop is GMO and we’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Now we know that it’s manmade, farmers have only been able to grow it for the last 40 years or so because IT DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE THAT, it’s likely GMO, and 100% unnatural. It gets worse. The way they extract the oil and process it makes something already so horrible even more horrible as if it were possible. Click here to see an awesome video about how canola oil is made (fun fact: includes bleach…yummy!).

Want to know more about the glorious canola oil? It was originally called LEAR which stood for low erucic acid rapeseed but since that didn’t sell too hot they changed it to CANadian Oil Low Acid. They couldn’t keep the rapeseed name anywhere near the canola name or people may have never bought it in the first place.

I could go on to tell you all the other horrible health ramifications that come from canola oil but really you don’t need the information (you can research yourself if you really do) to know that when something has such a dark history, it should be nowhere near your body! And if you dare try to come at me with the whole “it’s heart healthy…helps with cholesterol ” crap, I will come at you with this: I’ve heard bleach kills cancer but we aren’t subscribing that as the cure now are we?

Do you see now how Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Trader Joe’s and many more places that sell anything with canola oil are lying straight to your face? Maybe I didn’t make it clear enough in my post.

How can they market something as organic when it was manufactured in a lab some 40 years ago? There is no such thing as organic canola oil.

How can they put it in everything and still market their store and ingredients as healthy and natural? What’s natural about a lab and some scientists? What’s healthy about something that is bleached before it hits the shelves? What’s healthy about inflammation?

I just cannot believe how they lie to you. I 100% can believe how they lie to you but I will not stand back and keep my mouth shut! Please stop buying canola oil….even the so-called “organic” kind. Please don’t believe the lies these stores are selling you.

Kristina

p.s. There are plenty more lies and plenty more oils to avoid, soybean for example, so do your homework.

I use olive oil, coconut oil, or butter/ghee when I cook. Think words like natural, whole, real, simple and it will help you eliminate most of the CRAP oils and foods consumed these days. Get back to the basics to truly live a healthy life!

I’M THE WORST BLOGGER EVER. This week has been crazy and this post has been in my draft section since Monday morning. Moving on.

I just have to start off by saying that my poop post really hit it off. I hope this means some 100 people are now experiencing some sort of life change for the better! Feel free to subscribe to my blog via email so you can keep up to date with all my postings and rambling!

In case you missed it, I am attempting to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks. If you don’t want to go back and read the original post, the gist is that I am 10 pounds shy of what my-ultimate-want-to-be-this-weight-goal-thingy…it’s not that my weight now is at all unhealthy but just that I had a goal in mind and I want to see if I can reach it. Week one is done and I moved onto week two with my head lifted high but knowing that I needed to step up my game with all my goals. Well, I did better in some areas and worse in others but this blog is about honesty and so this is what week two looked like.

Can you see that chart? I am so bad at the whole technology thing. I will work on it for next post.

A couple of notes on the above chart:

Fast food includes restaurant foods and no, I did not limit or share it with anybody. While in Atlanta I feasted on some delicious Cuban, Indian, and Jewish cuisine and I wasn’t going to share with anyone. But this is life and this is part of my healthy lifestyle. I’m not going to go to one of the best Indian food places I’ve ever had and not try as much variety as I can. It’s just not my idea of living life.

Ah, the juice fasting for one day every other week. Twice last week I juiced until lunch time in an attempt to complete this goal. Twice I learned that failing to plan is planning to fail. Another part of living life.

The time I get to bed at 1030 every day of the week is the time pigs fly. I’m still trying though!

These detox baths are another one of those failing to plan is planning to fail moments.

Alright, this post is pretty straight forward. No bells and whistles or anything extra. BUT stay tuned for my week three update which is going to be very interesting for sure. I promise I won’t make you wait so long to know an update. I promise I will post my update by Monday of next week, I’ll even shot for Sunday.

I haven’t yet posted my story of health and losing weight and all that jazz but for those of you who don’t know I’ve grown a lot in the realm of health and natural living which has helped me tremendously in the weight department. I will have to go more into detail on a separate post about how I got to where I am today but let me show you where I was and where I am now so you can get a little idea.

June 2010.

December 2011.

Things did get better……

October 2012.

August 2013.

Nice little trip down memory lane. I’ve made huge improvements in my life. This isn’t just how I look, or the weight I’ve lost, this is about everything. A more holistic view on life has brought me where I am now. More on that story another time.

Even so, I had a goal of where I wanted to end up once I was in the best shape of my life. I’ve never been one for scales or goals like this… I want to be healthy not at a certain weight. But nevertheless, I want to see if I can do it and I still think I can be healthy and at my target weight goal. I was closest on my wedding day, 4 pounds shy, but I’ve gained a little weight since then and now I’m 10 pounds shy. I’ve also slacked a little in certain areas of life and grown a ton in others.

So, starting today I have 10 weeks (and a couple of days) before my 22nd birthday and I want to be at my goal by then.

10 weeks. 10 pounds.

Wanna know how I’m gonna do it? Yes, you do!

Exercise:

3x per week run 30 min. I cannot run for 30 minutes straight but as much as I can I will or break it up into two 15 minute runs. Whatever I can do. I’m gonna track them using the Strava app, come join me!

2x per week 30 minutes of other exercise…Zumba or yoga or bicycling or a workout video or dancing or something. Anything.

3x per week squats, lunges, jumping jacks, planks, etc…something that is more for toning than anything…not sure for how long or how many sets yet.

Everyday I want to stretch my body…haven’t come up with my exact stretches but I will be gathering ideas from thankyourbody. My body feels so much better when I stretch everyday.

I’ve been able to maintain my weight by just walking which I do for at least 30 minutes a day so I will continue on that path as well.

Food wise:

5x per week green smoothie breakfast replacement. I have a protein powder I usually keep on hand for when I’m out of greens but I will be mixing this into my greens so it can hold me over longer. I usually do this as a natural process of life but I want to stick to it for 5 days straight.

5x per week green juice too. I usually have an average of 3 juices a week but I want to up my game, plus juices are just so delicious.

Limit restaurant food to either a) salad or b) not eating my entire meal/sharing. I used to do this every single time I went to eat but I’ve slacked lately. I’ve also brought my own food to restaurants and will be doing more of this too.

I want to juice fast every other week for one day. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while so what better time to start than now.

Wheat grass shots once a week. My juicer can juice wheat grass-ah!

Other than that I am proceeding with my normal real foods diet.

Extra other things:

Oil pulling every day and for longer periods of time. I usually oil pull 3-5 times a week for 5-10 minutes. Let’s see if I can up this to 20 minutes everyday.

Probiotics. I’ve never been a supplement person…ever. But I already have some on hand and want to be diligent about taking this everyday to see if I can see improvements.

Get to bed by 10:30. Trust me, this is a huge step for me. Sleep is so important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Detox baths once a week. I usually do once a month or so. Sitting still for that long is hard for me.

Dry brushing everyday. It’s so good for detoxifying!

That’s really it guys. It’s really not that huge of a step for me in this food department or other extra things but the main reason I was able to lose so much weight at first was 1) I had more to lose 2) I exercised more.

I don’t count calories or anything of the sort and I don’t plan to. Calories can only take you so far in losing weight and plus, I want this to be more about healthy living. So it’s really not that dramatic or different for me. Just upping my game.

I’m also doing a separate challenge with some friends, using a points system. Hopefully I can win that one!

If you want to join me in this 10 week challenge, please do. Please revise the above to meet your needs and desires.